The tongue can be an instrument of untold good or incalculable evil.
Some one has said that a sharp tongue is the only edged tool that
grows keener with constant use. "Thy tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a
sharp razor, working deceitfully. . . . They have sharpened their
tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. . . . The
mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the
mouth of the wicked. . . . A wholesome tongue is a tree of life: but
perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit, . . ." Bishop Hall
said that the tongues of busybodies are like the tails of Samson's
foxes--they carry firebrands and are enough to set the whole field of
the world in a flame. "Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths that
they may obey us; and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the
ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds,
yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the
governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth
great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth! And
the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our
members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the
course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell. For every kind of
beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is
tamed and hath been tamed by mankind: but the tongue can no man tame;
it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God,
even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the
similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and
cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be. Doth a fountain
send forth at the same time sweet water and bitter? Can the fig tree,
my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine figs? so can no
fountain both yield salt water and fresh. Who is a wise man and endued
with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his
works with meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and
strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth."
Blighted hopes and blasted reputations are witness to its awful power.
In many cases the tongue has murdered its victims. Can we not all
recall cases where men and women have died under the wounds of calumny
and misrepresentation? History is full of such cases.